In a spring ritual that happens throughout the province, parents are picking up their kids from university so they can come home and live rent-free while they try to make enough money to pay for another year of post-secondary education.

It takes a bit of an -  how can we put this delicately - adjustment for all parties involved. So for those parents dealing with a kid - well, young adult, really - who has landed back in the nest for the summer, I offer up these top 10 ways you can tell your kid is back from university/college.

1. All of a sudden, you don't have a car.

2. When you do have access to your own vehicle, there's no gas in the tank.

3. There's no hot water left for your shower and your razor has been used by at least three other people.

4. When you finish your cold shower, there are no towels in the bathroom. They are all on the floors of the two daughters' bedrooms.

5. The sound of one moody teenager not talking to her dumb parents is replaced by high-decibel arguments about who took whose top without asking permission as the constant bickering over borrowed clothes takes up where it left off in September.

6. Dueling stereos.

7. It's Friday. You've just unloaded $200 worth of groceries and you hear the fridge door open and the comment: "There's nothing to eat in this house."

8. Two TVs - mindless MTV programming on both.

9. Shoes multiply like rabbits in the front hallway.

10.  You're minding your own business, watching some TV, and you get a lecture on how women are objectified by the media and you are part of the evil patriarchal conspiracy responsible for all of the world's ills.

As much as I like to whine and poke fun, I'm glad Caitlin is home safe and had a good year at Western. There are other parents who are making a far more difficult adjustment right now.  Last weekend, our Express co-op student, Shawn McNamara, attended the funeral of his friend from Mississauga, a university student in Ottawa who committed suicide.

First-year Carleton student Nadia Kajouji, 18, had been reported missing on March 9, prompting a frantic 40-day search involving her family and friends, as well as Ottawa police and university officials. Her body was found in the Rideau River on April 20.

During the course of their search, the family learned that their daughter had been taking anti-depressants, struggling with school and undergoing counseling, but because of privacy laws and university policy, they were not informed of her problems.

You know, now that I think about it, it's pretty nice to have things back to normal again.